Original subtitles

[Music]

[Applause]

we're heading east along the coast of

the Black Sea with the Caucasus

Mountains rising up in the distance

ahead of us our first border crossing

into the former Soviet republic of

Georgia

welcome to the Silk Road adventure

Georgia is relatively unknown in the

West we feel like we're going to a place

for a few of our countrymen ever visit

in fact in 2004 the country saw fewer

than 10,000 international tourists for

the entire year known for its scenic

beauty legendary wine and generous

hospitality Georgia belongs neither to

Europe nor Asia coming over to Georgia

you know it's been a very turbulent the

last two three years there but it solved

itself it's no very peaceful it's nice

coming to Tbilisi it's such a cultural

center again and it's just so different

people as we migrate East

today we are in the southwestern part of

Georgia and this region is called a

general region and has a population of a

three hundred seventy nine thousand the

town where we are now it is called

batumi and it is the capital of this

agile region we are going to the cornea

fortress and it is one of the oldest

fortresses in this a general region in a

dates from the 1718 centuries BC and

from the Hellenistic time here was a not

a village but town and Aziza fortress

was a built mean little in preserves

this apart and to protect it from the

northern tribes and from 1920-21

this area was a controlled by a Russian

army by Russian troops Georgia gained

its independence in 1991 the crumbling

legacy of Soviet involvement is readily

apparent in the Black Sea port of Batumi

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I have not been travelling through this

part of the world at least five years I

remember some of the countries being so

there were blossom and now they can

barely make their living especially

Georgia it seems to me that they've

turned into different people and they

almost forgot whom they were just ten

years ago and I know they will remember

but they need some help and assistance I

think just whoever it comes from but

just need to need a help of to support

the country's a little bit more well I

was very afraid when I first came into

Georgia because I saw all the roads in

the cities having potholes and you know

missing manhole covers and stuff like

that well it's a step down on a ladder

it it's a little bit of a memory I have

from touring Russia and Siberia before

when they have to they really have to

start below zero to get over into the

hundreds you know that it's the roads

and houses I don't know if you can save

some of the old houses or rip them down

the people trying very hard and you can

see they're friendly enough and the

police help of tremendously it's not a

police state like in the Ukraine it's

it's it's nice but they have to overcome

such a verbal

that it is very difficult to do that in

a year or two or even in a decade until

recently police corruption in Georgia

was epidemic it doesn't depend you need

something wrong or not in any case but

now it is in order everything is you

know the so no corruption anymore

earlier we had the policeman standing on

the roads but now this system is

abolished because we have new police

cars corruption aside these are still

hard times in Georgia young people they

don't have enough money to buy their own

house or to rent it because the salaries

are Network - so they can't effort and

even after marriages for example if boy

is murdered if he gets married he lived

with his own parents with his wife but

sometimes they have money to rent a

house or to to buy a new one before

leaving Batumi helgi is interviewed by a

local television station the best

when they see Krypton the best face you

know will show them good hospitality and

if we leave with a good impression of

your front here in Gori the birthplace

of Joseph Stalin this is the last

remaining statue of the former Soviet

ruler that's just one of many ways of

seeing how much things have changed

since the breakup of the Soviet Union in

order to make solid news in on time I

went through a tunnel instead of going

over and I got to the through the tunnel

to the toll booth I was trying to get

some money out and the three attendant

says you American I said yes some

American they said we love American go

through free and pulled it up and aren't

ripe fruit

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the capital of Georgia tably C is one of

the most ancient cities in the Caucasus

walking around the city it's possible to

see the intricately carved wooden

balconies which often appear in

paintings of the city

[Applause]

[Music]

rising up from the river in the heart of

the old city the narikala fortress dates

from the fourth century

[Applause]

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yesterday we were at the fortress the

city the old city fortress in Tbilisi

and we were climbing around the walls

the old fortress walls and there's a

bell tower on top and Hans had rung the

bell and there is a local lady an older

lady I won't say what Hans called her

she was like really irate that we were

reading the Bell it was like yelling and

screaming at us and freely animated

about that we shouldn't be doing that

but and then as soon as we came down off

the bell she was like wanting money and

being nice and gentle and stuff it's

just a really contrast there's kind of

funny baby laugh

unlike the other countries of the Silk

Road Georgia is a Christian country the

method each of the Virgin dates from the

13th century

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rooster Valley Avenue is the main street

of Tbilisi as a bridge between Europe

and Asia the culture here is a mixture

of both

despite the scarcity of Western tourism

in Georgia one very important American

just passed through to Belize see a few

days ago an evidence of his visit is

everywhere in the capital George Bush's

speech and Freedom Square made

international headlines when somebody in

the crowd threw a grenade at the podium

fortunately for the president it didn't

go off our own reception for the

Georgians was an over-the-top display of

their legendary hospitality as we were

treated to a royal feast and no small

amount of their indigenous wine later in

the hotel the journey turns ominous when

we hear news of violence in Uzbekistan

well we are here in Tbilisi right now

and I've been watching CNN and it's

probably the worst thing you can do

because you get very focused on the

latest news and in Uzbekistan right now

there's been an uprising in the

southeastern corner in rgg on and it's

very ugly when you look at the news and

I don't want to don't play what's going

on but of course I'm a little nervous

that that's gonna factor what you

because if they cross the border to

respect its own even though we are not

going through this troubled area that

would be I really don't know the answer

to what the outcome of our cheer will be

at that point

with the latest news from Uzbekistan it

was a little disconcerting to hear

sirens and see the arrival of so many

vehicles right outside our hotel in

tably see what's going on why are there

so many ambulances are they preparing

for a demonstration here now that the

American delegation is left its Moscow's

turn to court the favor of tably see and

win influence in the capital these shiny

new ambulances are designed to do just

that

we're all a gift from Russia and that

they're just a present for Georgia and

stuck my head in them and they're like

they smell brand-new and I only have

like ten kilometers on them pretty

awesome little rigs trying to figure out

how I can get one myself

[Applause]

it's a long ride each day and it's

sometimes hard sometimes it's cold and

you know you sit on the feet so you know

to keep on going and it's a mental right

you have to be totally aware of your

surroundings because the traffic

patterns are different here than they

are on the street so it's a challenge in

Georgia the traffic was just crazy it's

like there's no rules and people cross

the center line and come at your head on

and things like that

it's those are things that are hard to

deal with no it's not it's not easy it's

not easy way to travel but it's a good

way to travel because it really does it

really immerses you in if you fall

behind I've seen it before then you have

double the riding to do the next day to

catch up but you know that's part of the

challenge you know this is the kind of

an adventure ride it's not a luxury to

overuse it on in the big cushion is here

and being chauffeured around I mean you

lose some weight too you know that's

kind of cool

[Applause]

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[Applause]

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went today but beautiful country really

nice country road a whole tree line

oh nice and green fertile looks fertile

look like they grow a lot here so what

the poor just seen some more of the

country lots of animals no pigs the pigs

I think are gone until China but sheep

goats and cattle

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cute dogs on the road didn't want to

chase you out of the way from the

livestock as long as you don't slow down

or stop I think you're fine they just

want to make sure you keep going

that baby up I'm trying to warm up

that's what I'm what's happening over

here kind of a cold wet right this

morning it's tradition to offer tea to

the guests or somebody's first question

is would you like tea it's very

important that like like cigarette like

it's our tradition to offer our guests

but you see special form of this cup

this will call this cup our model our

model our mood in in other body language

mean means pair here because this form

look like here for such a small country

Azerbaijan contains a wealth of natural

splendor in fact the small country

contains nine different climatic zones

riding motorcycles over this misty pass

is one particularly nerve-wracking way

to experience this so but what goes up

must come down and we soon arrived at

another historic Silk Road caravanserai

in the small village of Sheppard one of

the remaining links to Shakey's rich

past is the stone caravanserai building

one of five the city once boasted this

old in the Silk Road still accommodates

travelers today with rooms on an upper

floor it overlooks an inner courtyard

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in the evening the locals refused to let

us rest and insist on sharing a

bullet-shaped bottle of vodka

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[Laughter]

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[Laughter]

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I've been surprised by how friendly

people have been I mean I got tired of

waving at people

I mean azar by Jean I'm riding one

handed all day

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leaving Shecky behind we set out for

baku through the foothills of the

caucasus mountains and a landscape that

rapidly becomes a parched desert

[Music]

for at least 2,500 years oil has come

out of the ground near Baku to be

exported around the world the world's

first deep oil well was drilled here in

1884 by 1913 there were 3,500 wells in

Baku transforming the city into a

cosmopolitan industrial center today a

lot of foreign companies a lot of

foreign to the biggest foreign company

the BP and also Ramco total mcdermott

some companies from USA some components

from England even noble brothers come

here and work came here in Azerbaijan

and works in Azerbaijan

they had office here and good business

would business noble brothers they had

they had good business another budget

just to put it in perspective at the

turn of the 20th century in 1904 to 1910

this is where the Rothschilds and the

nobles made their fortune in Azerbaijan

and in those days it provided Baku

provided 40 percent of the world's oil

supply

so these BP have just put in a new

pipeline that they're busy filling at

the moment to take oil from the Caspian

out here all the way to the

Mediterranean through Georgia and Turkey

sixteen hundred kilometres of pipeline

it's gonna take four months to fill this

pipeline ten million barrels of oil so

is it going to be important for

Azerbaijan this mile

that is yes it's a country gonna change

yes other people good you know the

people are friendly they're gonna reap

the benefit of the oil which is good

Azerbaijan enjoys a premier position on

the shores of the Caspian Sea it's

passed like that of neighbouring Georgia

and Armenia has been a turbulent one

various khanates ruled these lands prior

to the 19th century Russians and the

Soviets dominated the region until

Azerbaijan declared itself an

independent nation in 1991 although we

are among the very few travelers who

come here for the history and culture as

opposed to the business of oil we will

enjoy the comfortable improvements the

city of Baku is invested in to cater to

Western investors tourism now is just

gross but not very important for us the

first oil but to reason we know that

tourism is very important also

this is the oldest part of the city

dating back to medieval times narrow

curving streets are surmounted by a high

rock wall from the 12th century the

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maiden tower overlooks the old quarter

and the sea with a past routed in

mystery it's one of the many

architectural gems in the sector

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completing the first leg of our journey

is cause for celebration and a couple of

local GS riders join us for dinner

Ben and Phyllis have been living in Baku

for several years I love it here it's a

it's not like real life somehow you

don't have all the same problems and

responsibilities as you have at home

it's just like one big party actually

Ben's worry I'm not working so for me

it's like really nice there's quite a

big expat community and we've got lots

of friends here there's a lot of good

western-style restaurant so you can eat

as Abidjan food or you can eat Greek you

know Indian Thai food just restaurant

every nationality food you can eat I've

got friends from all over the world here

there's no problem yeah the people are

friendly I'm sure you found in Turkey

everybody was friendly Georgia people

were friendly but at the moment probably

your only problem might be those Becca

stone but I'm sure you'll cope with that

we'll find a way around what's the same

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[Laughter]

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with Central Asia looming ahead it's

time to reflect on the past and how far

we have already come on the Silk Road

adventure it's amazing I thought the

people in Turkey were perhaps the most

cordial people I'd ever met and

progressively I think they've become

even nicer and not maybe immediately

on first glance I hear they don't look

at you with a smile right away with you

at the moment you say something that you

like engage them they're just that much

more kind than them so I was about

John's been really cool I mean

unfortunately we came in through rain

there's some brutal riding some tough

roads

it's really tough roads I think it's

taking a toll on some of us but parents

incredible again just to start contrast

we'll be in the Georgia movie in

Azerbaijan and say contrasts are getting

even harsher

but for me it's more incredible that way

all right say guy I hate I hate to say

it and it's like I almost want to just

push the fast-forward button but you

don't want this is a good just one I

want to like engage all of it I want to

like use again it all happen so

[Music]

it's gonna be interesting the adventure

will continue the highlights of the Silk

Road tour I think for myself is going to

be getting to Turkmenistan it's

definitely it's been a bottleneck in

this whole project we have even rejected

have had one of our participants

rejected this year to go through

Turkmenistan so we have to fly him

around and our backup driver will take

the bike but it's all these

uncertainties in the global duster that

makes it unique I don't know of anybody

during the entire Silk Road in 53 days

on motorcycles except road riders so I

think it's evident as you go on this

adventure that you are kind of charting

a new path for them place 15 years or so

just hasn't been that much travel all

the way through here

leaving Baku in Azerbaijan go crossing

the Caspian Sea it's not the easy fit

because it's no ferry there you cannot

just go up and say yeah we're like

ticket for the ten o'clock ferry oh no

we have to rent part of the ferry it's a

lot of stuff going on in the background

so we may be doing something that few

people are doing in the post-soviet era

and that's going across the Caspian so

we are almost there no this signal here

is the boat we are going to the straight

here so it's going no 20 kilometer 19.9

kilometres over and that means that he

had fired up both engines we've been

coming down the coast there and actually

we have the turkmenbashi right in here

but and the hotel should be right I can

almost see the hotel and if the captain

can go in there and pick us off on the

beach that could be great but we do have

to go through the Strait very narrow

shallow straight into turkmenbashi it's

fantastic to have one of these TPS is

not only to navigate by motorcycle but

you can have fun also and kind of keep

an eye on what big dude the captain is

doing well I'm figuring out right now

that there were we're heading west

instead of East

hanging back where we came so kind of

wondering what's going on weather

decided that we can't fit through we've

got to go around or what's going on go

down to the bridge and see what we can

find out there's a large oil tanker

coming through the the shallow channel

that we're going to go through if the

channel is only 1.5 meters deep

we'll miss the bottom by about five feet

but there's a tanker coming from the

other direction so we've had to turn

back around and go out and do it too

holding pattern until that tanker comes

through the channel and then this is why

we're making this large sweet bean turn

we are actually heading back west two

minutes ago and now we're swinging south

and then heading back east and then

we'll go through the channel so we are

not lost we are not well I'm confident

this is okay the boats not lost we

however another story

pretty exciting we're watching death

gage over there it is a 1.6 meters of

water underneath the bottom of this ship

which is only about what five feet five

feet of water so well yeah their living

is have full reign of the instruments in

there of course when John tried to touch

something they slap his hand

great fun one of them even speaks some a

little bit of English which is kind of

nice I and Buffy

short bushy 32 miles Turkmenbashi and go

through customs and that could take

hours but I'm not really afraid or

anything of that it's just you know just

another thing you deal with and but I

mean you hear that there's all the rooms

are bugged and listening devices and

people follow you around and everything

and I'm sure that's probably true the

fact that this there are things to

overcome on this trip like anything in

life makes it that much sweeter the fact

that yeah in the middle of the night

we're sitting at the customs trying to

get into Turkmenistan and wondering what

the hell is this place anyway

you know and it's 2:00 in the morning

and how many workforce we have to fill

out that's part of what makes it an

adventure with the rocky shores of

Turkmenistan in the distance the 26 hour

ride across the Caspian Sea is almost

complete and we will soon be in a

country known as the North Korea of

Central Asia after a long night of

customs procedures were released to this

posh hotel in turkmenbashi

the city is named after the president of

Turkmenistan who chose this name for

himself when he came to power

this hotel is perhaps the most opulent

in the entire country with both outdoor

and indoor pools too bad we don't have

any time to enjoy it

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leaving the plush air-conditioned hotel

for the searing heat of the desert we

head out for our first day of riding in

Central Asia

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only a few miles into our travels we

stop to take photos of the first camels

we've seen on the Silk Road adventure in

the distance a young camel herder

watches us from a hill when he has seen

enough he dentures down to round up his

herd undoubtedly surprised by our

interest in his animals as much as 90%

of the country is covered with a CARICOM

desert a vast wasteland of sand and bush

this is the hottest desert in Central

Asia and few people attempt to eke out a

living in such desolation how much does

a full tank constant did it cost you I

think it's gonna cost me around 60 cents

the currency here is the Monnett the

best exchange rate is always on the

black market and this money changers

sold gas changed money and gave us tea

even here a little negotiation goes a

long way

[Laughter]

[Laughter]

[Laughter]

before we left our host offered to

butcher one of his goats for us so how

much does it cost go in I can tell you

how they go for the our ox and bucks can

we get one by the hour

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you know the physicality wise and just

enduring the sore backs or the first few

weeks my throttle hand arm was getting

really cramped up that's stuff you just

endure you know it's it's funny I think

there'll be times where I'll be riding

and you know that there's something like

you know wrong or something's like you

slept on your back lawn or something you

just forget about it you just like you

just endure it and deal with it and I

think the the kind of the breed of

people that we are is like that's what

you do if you've got to be cut on your

foot in her second [ __ ] I'm gonna start

riding I just got a ride in tears

the frustrating days hot tired and

hungry and there's been days where I

just want to go home

and I usually realize because I need to

eat or take a nap and it goes away I

mean I'm really happy to be here but I

do realize that that's the part that

nobody talks about because we don't want

to seem ungrateful to have this amazing

opportunity

sort of like we always have to put up

the face and everything is great and it

is a great trip but there are certainly

moments

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Aska bot is situated on the Great Silk

Road we started the first century AC and

it was a small fortress since that time

all the trade routes and the caravans

were passing by through this this small

fortress and then all the trades from

Russia to China it was like a linking

like a linking place for travelers of

east and west

now as many people as many guests and

tourists say they you know they see that

our marvelous city it's its beauty its

white and we now we used to say oscarbot

is like it's a marble city oh I'd like

to manage that a lot I could fill the 35

litre tank for 50 cents which was a lot

more than other people were spending but

compared to the $8 a gallon

I put almost a 90 lira worth like $85

worth of gas into the tank we first got

it out of the container I think there's

a political difference between

Turkmenistan where you have this

egomaniac this megalomaniac which on

every coin every dollar bill every

building if he's not in gold leaf it's a

big picture of him up there he thinks

very highly of himself and yet at the

same time on the flip side of that it

was probably I forgot was probably one

of the most beautiful cities this city

of marble leaming palaces and fountains

in the middle of the desert is the

creation of one man sapper Meera

turkmenbashi the self-proclaimed father

of all Turkmen in the middle of the

capital the arch of neutrality one of

dozens of monuments he has erected in

honor of himself

there's even a monument for his book we

consider these books his books as a

second Koran so like a very sacred book

for our nation other countries come and

like appreciate it so we get a lot we

learned a lot and we this is a guidance

for us so we just follow this book and

under his guidance we hope this we call

this 21st century as a 21st century is a

golden century of Turkmen so as you have

to come come down to ask about to just

realize it and like as you have a saying

you know wake up and smell the coffee so

you just come in here and see it

yourself city is very nice and many

people amazed by looking at the greens

and plantation around it so traditional

Turkmen people are very hospitable so

you can see people on the on the streets

you know when you walk and they have all

friendly they strive to help assist and

it's in our traditional way and coming

from Asian times our hospitality and we

are welcome to everybody coming here so

just offer our assistance so that's a

little bit about ask apart it's just a

whole nother world occupy its kind I

don't know how you can explain it to

somebody without without actually taking

in there and just showing it it's just

unbelievable

we get an early start today to

experience the oriental bazaar one of

the most vibrant and largest open

markets in Central Asia one thing is

which ashgabat is very different in like

indistinct is Oscar but he has a big

outside sunday market we call it push

market because of people it's very

crowded it's very you know big now it's

a it has sections so you can find their

animal section so where the livestock

poultry camel and cows and are displayed

so for the sale and there are there is

another section called the carpet and

ethnographic section so then you can

find everything from the carpet from the

carpets to you know other pieces of art

of national are made in Turkmenistan and

we beside this the market now I mean to

these days recently the market works you

know even three days a week Thursday

Saturday Sunday so it's not far from the

city it's like a half an hour drive and

there is a good parking lot so people

have opportunity there to bring their

goods and products and like from the

outside of the country from the rural

from so and there is a good facility for

them to sell it and you know for

information in agriculture we have

practically no pet no taxes from the

government side it's it's open and it's

made to make the private sector to

develop so local farmers living on the

skirts of a city they bring their goods

and they pay only for the seat the way

they say this and it's it's like 5000

Menards per seat per day it's it's a $1

by the state rate

it's somewhat uncharted territory right

now for a traveler but it's pretty

self-evident as we go through that

people are just stopping and looking

they haven't seen many Westerners in

some of these countries there are so

many strange spaces that we go that like

took menaced on nobody go there I don't

know about any organized motorcycle

groups that ever went through there and

being a photographer this is going to be

armed on there no film this time it's

all digital but I'm gonna take gigabyte

after gigabyte

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[Laughter]

near intently me American tourist salaam

elector Alabama with motorcyclist mondo

the

Judaism Turkey what Georgia Azerbaijan

it's great to be able to travel the old

Silk Road route but I think the biggest

part of it for me was being able to

travel through countries that are new

and you you you don't understand these

countries you don't know anything about

them really so you get a first-hand look

at a new country and then they're

changing so rapidly they're not going to

be the same in another ten years so it's

great to be here and see them as they

are now you see so many different

cultures people's countries ways and

dress so I think it's evident as you go

on this adventure that you are kind of

charting a new path for the place 50

years or so just hasn't in the house

travelled all the way through here

one of the highlights of our visit to

the Sunday Bazaar in Turkmenistan the

camel market

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for centuries camels have been the visa

burden on the Great Silk Road they're

still used in Turkmenistan for their

labor food and milk and every week

families from the surrounding region

come here to buy and sell camels

wheeling and dealing to get the best

price as standard practice here just

like any other purchase in this

international bazaar sometimes the

hardest part is simply getting the

camels home

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being with an organized group with helgi

as a world traveler I put a lot of trust

in this knowledge and it certainly

proved to be very good and when we

eventually did get into these countries

it was not at all what I expected these

people again took us in with open arms

and I'd never felt uneasy at any point

in time

in deciding to come on this trip I

questioned whether or not it was a smart

thing to do just because of where it was

at and a lot of my friends and family

did as well

the fear is almost in not knowing the

fear is almost where the fear comes from

and it is derived from not understanding

fully what it is and where it is that

you're doing so um now being here and

now it getting so close to the end I

mean I can't imagine not coming to these

places I can't imagine these places

being the kind of places that would

frighten people if anything the complete

opposite is true I mean people have been

cordial to a fault I've never seen more

people laugh whether it would be more

expressive and just wonderful

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our guidebook mentions the large lizards

in the catacomb also known as desert or

land crocodiles and we're hoping to see

one on the road today and that's exactly

where we found it did you see a picture

of it in the book yeah they said it

looked like it was real flat yeah guts

hanging out

[Music]

the Silk Road adventure for me as has

been a historic journey a cultural

journey and a Geographic journey and and

that's just been outstanding to to read

about things to read about historic

events back ancient events the Hittites

Alexander the Great or to have read

about Genghis Khan before and reread it

again to read about Tamerlane I'm not

mistaken we have over four four four

thousand historical places and

archaeological sites to look at and very

old so our our history starts with like

7,000 years of history we have so

starting from the ancient times the

Neolithic period so then the Stone Age

and bronze so even that time the people

in William just inhabited this area so

we have a long tradition long history

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Merve is one of the oldest ancient oasis

cities along the Silk Road in Central

Asia in the 12th century

Merve was the capital of the Seljuk

Empire which extended into Iran

Afghanistan Syria and the Caucasus in

ancient times there was a big complex

consisting of five cities with walls

that were almost 100 feet high now in

ruins 150,000 people lived in ancient

murder and the city boasted twelve

libraries eleven madrasahs and mosques

and a post office that used pigeons to

send the mail

looking out across the ruins here today

it's difficult to imagine the scale and

complexity of what was achieved in this

oasis several important museums are in

the area to preserve the artifacts found

at the site along with various aspects

of traditional culture I think it's

important to read as you go through the

on the trip you want to go back and

reread travels of Marco Polo you want to

read the foreign Devils on a Silk Road

to understand some of the things that

are that have actually gone on Central

Asia is almost the origin of many parts

of Turkey many parts of India Iran that

people came out of Central Asia from the

standpoint of variety it's just more to

see as you go through this a amazing

Road called the Silk Road for more

information on the Silk Road adventure

with Helga Petersen including the live

journal for this and other globe writers

adventures please visit our website

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